Critical reading has become the focus of many studies. On this occasion, an overview will be provided on how to train critical reading based on suggestions from researchers, adapted from reputable international scientific journals.

Chamberlain's Study on Critical Reading: Question-based Technique and Letter-writing Technique

The following is the synthesize of Chamberlain's (1985)¹ publication on critical reading.

Question-based Technique

This technique involves providing students with journal articles and a series of questions that focus on specific issues within each article, using Ausubel's (1978)² concept of advance organizers. The approach, which resembles Buche and Glover's (1980)³ method, assigns a range of articles and questions related to design, data analysis, and theory. The questions increase in difficulty based on Grellet's (1981)⁴ classification of content questions—plain fact, implied fact, deduced meaning, or evaluation—and are supported by Lehmann and Mehrens' (1978)⁵ checklist for evaluating research articles. Students are instructed to read the articles and answer the questions briefly. Example questions include outlining events related to a subject, describing how variables were measured, listing controlled extraneous variables, evaluating the adequacy of controls, identifying new contributions of the research, summarizing the theory used, and discussing ethical issues. This technique is reported to be effective, helping students focus on relevant issues and develop skills in critical analysis, though it has not been formally evaluated. Students find the assignments useful and believe they improve their ability to understand complex research.

Letter-writing Technique

In research courses, developing critical reading skills is a key objective, although this may be less relevant for courses in other fields where the focus is often on specific content. Keller (1982)⁶ proposed an innovative approach to enhance these skills by having students critique journal articles in the form of a letter to their parents. Keller believed this format fostered effective communication, reduced plagiarism, and encouraged students to connect scientific facts with everyday life. The technique received positive feedback from students. In a cognitive psychology course, Keller's method was adapted by requiring students to write letters to a relative or friend, specifying two articles instead of allowing free choice. Students were instructed to write in everyday language and relate the material to their personal experiences. The critiques were evaluated using course assessment forms, with a majority of students rating the assignments positively. The ratings indicated that the letters helped students understand the course material and were seen as a valuable, though somewhat less enjoyable, alternative to traditional laboratory reports. The letters were considered beneficial in improving reading skills, writing in accessible language, and developing critical thinking, making them a valuable component of the course and providing a varied approach to assignments in experimental psychology.

Multimodal Texts

A 2021 publication⁷ applies the combination of traditional and multimodal methods, but effective implementation requires enhanced teacher training and support to fully leverage the benefits of diverse media formats.

The study finds that using multimodal texts including text, video, audio, graphics, etc. allows students to think more deeply and critically to generate meaning. However, the study finds that the teachers lack of skills, understandings, and strategies to teach critical reading incorporating multimodal texts.

Critical reading is taught through an approach that incorporates multimodal texts, including written texts, videos, audio, and graphics. This method aims to deepen students' analytical and interpretive skills by engaging them with diverse forms of media. However, the current practice is often limited to traditional methods, with teachers primarily using written texts and occasional online videos.

Teachers are generally supportive of using multimodal texts, recognizing their potential to enhance critical thinking and comprehension. Despite this, they face challenges due to insufficient skills, understanding, and strategies to fully integrate multimodal elements into their teaching. Consequently, critical reading instruction tends to rely on conventional techniques such as summarizing, identifying key information, discussing main ideas, and answering text-based questions.

To address these limitations and improve critical reading instruction, it is recommended to develop educational models that better integrate multimodal texts. This would support teachers in using a variety of media to enrich the learning experience and foster deeper critical analysis. Additionally, attention should be given to overcoming obstacles such as poor reading skills among upper primary students, which can impact the effectiveness of multimodal approaches.